Can someone tell me in a scientific way what cancer is?

Question

Please tell me... I don't mind if it is scientific or very facty, I just want to know exactly what it is and what causes it, other than carcinogens.

Answer 1

This is a very good question, and the CancerGeek who is a specialist is cancer care actually wrote a very good article on what cancer is, what can cause it, and how it becomes what it is. Please stop by and take a look at it.

http://cancergeek.wordpress.com

Answer 2

Diva has summarized what defines cancer nicely. In terms of the causes of cancer, outside of the commonly known carcinogens, most causes of cancer remain elusive. For the most part, we think cancer stems from multiple mutations and random errors that occurs at the chromosomal level which ultimately leads to clonal evolution and immortalization as well as disinhibition of cellular proliferation...

Answer 3

Despite current popular belief, cancer is NOT many diseases.

It is one disease that looks different depending on the tissue the cancer is attacking.

Cancer occurs when healthy trophoblast cells are unable to turn themselves off. Trophoblast cells are the cells that are released from newly fertilized eggs that have the job of eating a niche in the uterine wall.

They stop at around 6-8 weeks of pregnancy and any leftovers are absorbed by the fetus. The reason they stop is that the fetal pancreas releases a couple of enzymes that stop the trophoblast cell activity.

Trophoblast cells also are active as part of healing cuts.

When a person is healthy and their pH is balanced, the trophoblast cells remain inactive. But when the pH is unbalanced, the mechanisms that keep trophoblasts in check no longer work like they should.

This allows unchecked...or poorly checked...trophoblast activity. Trophoblasts cells are used to being turned off quickly, if the pH is balanced. This makes it easy to reverse cancer quickly.

For instance, I got rid of my own Stage 4 cancer in two weeks. This never happens with FDA approved treatments because their mechanism of effect has nothing to do with the the way trophoblasts function.

It's interesting to note that when a patient has a skin cancer removed, they will invariably have new skin lesions appear. That's because cutting turns ON trophoblast cells. Meanwhile the patient with skin cancer is someone whose trophoblast turn-off function is not working was well as it should or they wouldn't have the skin cancer in the first place.

Biopsies and surgical removal of tumors also spur trophoblast activity in patients whose 'turn-off' mechanism is fairing poorly.

Take care.

Kelley

Answer 4

Cells replicate themselves to make new cells. Sometimes the replication gets a mutation or a flaw in the replication of the cell and the cell starts replicating the mistake or mutation. When it continues to replicate abnormally, you end up with cancer.

Answer 5

Cancer develops when cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. Although there are many kinds of cancer, they all start because of out-of-control growth of abnormal cells.

Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person's life, normal cells divide more rapidly until the person becomes an adult. After that, cells in most parts of the body divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells and to repair injuries.

Because cancer cells continue to grow and divide, they are different from normal cells. Instead of dying, they outlive normal cells and continue to form new abnormal cells.

Cancer cells often travel to other parts of the body where they begin to grow and replace normal tissue. This process, called metastasis, occurs as the cancer cells get into the bloodstream or lymph vessels of our body. When cells from a cancer like breast cancer spread to another organ like the liver, the cancer is still called breast cancer, not liver cancer.

Cancer cells develop because of damage to DNA. This substance is in every cell and directs all its activities. Most of the time when DNA becomes damaged the body is able to repair it. In cancer cells, the damaged DNA is not repaired. People can inherit damaged DNA, which accounts for inherited cancers. Many times though, a person’s DNA becomes damaged by exposure to something in the environment, like smoking.

Cancer usually forms as a tumor. Some cancers, like leukemia, do not form tumors. Instead, these cancer cells involve the blood and blood-forming organs, and circulate through other tissues where they grow.

Not all tumors are cancerous. Benign (noncancerous) tumors do not spread to other parts of the body (metastasize) and, with very rare exceptions, are not life-threatening.

Different types of cancer can behave very differently. For example, lung cancer and breast cancer are very different diseases. They grow at different rates and respond to different treatments. That is why people with cancer need treatment that is aimed at their particular kind cancer.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Half of all men and one-third of all women in the US will develop cancer during their lifetimes. Today, millions of people are living with cancer or have had cancer. The risk of developing most types of cancer can be reduced by changes in a person's lifestyle, for example, by quitting smoking and eating a better diet. The sooner a cancer is found and